Love is Strange

In Ira Sachs' warming and wistful Love is Strange, John Lithgow and Alfred Molina play longtime lovers who lose their cozy Manhattan apartment almost immediately after getting married. No one in their circle can take in both Ben and George, so they split up while searching for a new place, a living situation that proves more prolonged and difficult than expected. This contemporary story has an ancestor in the wonderful 1937 Leo McCarey tearjerker Make Way for Tomorrow, about a destitute couple forced apart and passed around by their selfish children. Love is Strange updates the story for a more materialistic age, one where living beyond your means is equated with living in poverty. There is little keeping the lovers in Love is Strange apart besides the weak contrivances of the script, which is too bad because otherwise it's a smart and cozy watch, and very well-acted by the leads.